Land speculators misinforming the community in Garibaldi Estates: Planner

A District of Squamish planner has consistently told developers that district staff is not supportive of development proposals in advance of the neighbourhood planning process.

While responding to a local resident district planner Matt Gunn said the district recognised the concern raised in Garibaldi Estates after enquiries by real estate developers.

“Given that the engagement process has not even begun, it is premature for any entity to be telling community members what the future of development in the Garibaldi Estates will look like,” Gunn said.

Gunn said developers who speculated and gave statements about future land uses and density were misinforming the community in Garibaldi Estates.

“I have specifically asked one group to cease approaching residents regarding speculation on outcomes of the neighbourhood plan in order to provide space for the neighbourhood planning process,” he said.

Gunn said the district would not have a vision of how the neighbourhood would evolve over time until much later in the planning process.

He said staff was in the middle of setting up a new online engagement platform and a project page for the Garibaldi Estates Neighbourhood plan process in early October.

“Our goal is to ensure that a robust public engagement process is followed in developing the neighbourhood plan prior to any consideration of specific development proposals,” he said.